Russia: Proposed U.N. statement on Syria's Qusair was one-sided.
MOSCOW | Mon Jun 3, 2013 12:02pm EDT
(Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it blocked a U.N. Security Council declaration on the siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusair over the weekend because it amounted to a demand for a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich described what is happening in Qusair, a Syrian rebel stronghold besieged by Syrian troops and Hezbollah guerrillas for two weeks, as a "counterterrorist operation".
At the Security Council on Saturday, diplomats said Russia blocked a draft statement circulated by Britain that voiced grave concern about the situation in Qusair and urged both sides to avoid civilian casualties. It called on the government to "exercise its responsibility to protect civilians" and give aid workers access to trapped residents.
Lukashevich, whose government is Assad's major allies, said this draft amounted to "a demand for the unilateral ceasefire by the Syrian military and passage out for bandits surrounded in several neighborhoods of the town".
"It can hardly be called timely to propose raising the voice of the international community in a situation when the Syrian army is completing a counterterrorist operation against militants who terrorized the population (of Qusair) for months without restraint," he said.
Russia has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most powerful protector during a conflict that has killed more than 80,000 people since March 2011. Moscow has prevented U.N. sanctions and, with China, vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad's government.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Thomas Grove and Mark Heinrich)
Russia: Proposed U.N. statement on Syria's Qusair was one-sided | Reuters
@BLACKEAGLE @500 @Surenas @Hussein @ResurgentIran @Yzd Khalifa @Arzamas 16 @Syrian Lion @KS
MOSCOW | Mon Jun 3, 2013 12:02pm EDT
(Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it blocked a U.N. Security Council declaration on the siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusair over the weekend because it amounted to a demand for a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich described what is happening in Qusair, a Syrian rebel stronghold besieged by Syrian troops and Hezbollah guerrillas for two weeks, as a "counterterrorist operation".
At the Security Council on Saturday, diplomats said Russia blocked a draft statement circulated by Britain that voiced grave concern about the situation in Qusair and urged both sides to avoid civilian casualties. It called on the government to "exercise its responsibility to protect civilians" and give aid workers access to trapped residents.
Lukashevich, whose government is Assad's major allies, said this draft amounted to "a demand for the unilateral ceasefire by the Syrian military and passage out for bandits surrounded in several neighborhoods of the town".
"It can hardly be called timely to propose raising the voice of the international community in a situation when the Syrian army is completing a counterterrorist operation against militants who terrorized the population (of Qusair) for months without restraint," he said.
Russia has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most powerful protector during a conflict that has killed more than 80,000 people since March 2011. Moscow has prevented U.N. sanctions and, with China, vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad's government.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman, editing by Thomas Grove and Mark Heinrich)
Russia: Proposed U.N. statement on Syria's Qusair was one-sided | Reuters
@BLACKEAGLE @500 @Surenas @Hussein @ResurgentIran @Yzd Khalifa @Arzamas 16 @Syrian Lion @KS
Last edited by a moderator:
